Picnic on the Green event fears after Traveller families set up camps

TWO groups of Travellers have pitched up on sites in Derby.

Seventeen caravans arrived at Chester Green and around a dozen were seen on the fields close to Derby Rugby Club in Darley Abbey on the morning of Wednesday, July 13.

The Travellers on Chester Green have said they will be gone by the time the Picnic on the Green event is due to held on Sunday, with hundreds of residents expected.

Councillor Martin Repton, representative for Darley ward on Derby City Council, has visited the site and spoken to the new arrivals.

He said: “I have been in touch with Derby City Council, the police and our public protection officers, and I have asked for urgent action.

“We have had problems before, where the Travellers are driving across the green, which is a park and there could be children or other people around.

“We have the Picnic in the Green event and there will be hundreds of people there, so I’m demanding action. We don’t want any incidents, but it is not an appropriate place to be, driving across pavements and driving across a park.

“We have a large community event that people have been looking forward to all year now. We hopefully can negotiate with the Travellers and I want to do this amicably if we can, but if not I expect the police and the council to take urgent action.”

Cllr Repton said that while he was pleased the Travellers had agreed to move on without need for further measures, he had applied to the city council for eviction notices in case this did not happen.

It comes just days after a larger group of Travellers pitched up in Osmaston Park, near to the new Moorways Leisure Centre.

Derbyshire Police were called at around 8.30pm on Wednesday, July 6, with the Travellers saying they were to leave by Sunday, July 10.

Following the arrival of the Travellers in Darley Abbey, fellow ward councillor Alison Martin said: “I have spoken with council officers and they are dealing with the situation.”